Values-Centered Artificial Intelligence (VCAI) Initiative
The goal of the University of Maryland (UMD) grand-challenges funded initiative for Values-Centered Artificial Intelligence (VCAI) is to integrate research and education across the campus and engage in high-impact research with stakeholders to transform how artificial intelligence (AI) is practiced globally.
In 30 years, the VCAI hopes to see AI:
- Safely and privately augmenting and personalizing medicine with doctors and patients informed and providing feedback.
- Fairly and justly tailoring educational content to individual learners with teachers and students understanding and critiquing AI interactions.
- Planning efficient and accessible routes across our cities with engineers and transit riders in the loop.
- Enabling equitable, reliable communication across languages and cultures with lay users and professional interpreters alike.
Unfortunately, that vision is not where AI is today.
The proposed solution is simple to say, but hard to do: To put AI in a human context by developing theories, practices, and tools to ensure that AI respects human values:
- Is understandable, transparent, and trustworthy.
- Is fair, just, and equitable.
- Supports human creativity and innovation.
- Provides privacy and security for stakeholders.
Faculty
Recent News
Photo caption: U.S. Department of Commerce Secretary Gina M. Raimondo announced the AI Safety Institute Consortium on Feb. 8 at a press conference in Washington, D.C.
UMD Joins National Consortium Dedicated to Improving AI Trustworthiness and Safety
February 13, 2024 | UMIACS StaffMultiple research centers and programs challenge the ethics of AI
Units Across UMD Partner on Multidisciplinary Initiatives for AI Ethics, Accessible Technology, and Literacy
December 7, 2023 | Olivia Borgula & INFO StaffFunded by UMD Grand Challenge Grants, INFO is playing an integral role in these initiatives
UMD INFO PhD student Lovely-Frances Domingo, CMNS Professor Hal Daumé III and INFO Associate Professor Katie Shilton discuss some of Shilton’s work on ethics and policy for the design of information technologies. (Photo by Maria Herd)
Grand Challenges Grant Launches Values-Centered AI Initiative
April 7, 2023 | Maria Herd | UMIACSINFO's Vanessa-Frias Martinez and Katie Shilton to help lead the building a new "values-centered AI" research center.